Eat Clean, Train Dirty – January 2K14 WTLB

By Sister Delia Pruitte

It’s that time of year, folks. The last of Thanksgiving’s turkey has been tucked away somewhere near your midsection, and all of those delicious Christmas cookies and cakes have found a home in the most inconvenient places.  Like me and millions of people around the globe, you may look forward to the New Year as an opportunity to make changes, to right many wrongs and to meet new goals. I want to encourage you; your physical and spiritual goals are certainly attainable! However, there are some common pitfalls you should look out for to avoid finding yourself in the same position this time next year.

1. Crash Dieting: Crash Fasting and Consecrating

Crash diets persist because they produce results! If you drink nothing but shakes for two months straight, you WILL lose weight. But, the moment you stop dieting, your weight will skyrocket right back up. Even worse, the next time you try to diet, it will be harder to lose weight again.

Spiritually speaking, a lot of us have this same bad habit. The only time we fast is when the pastor calls for revival or when we need something. If you suddenly decide to go on a fast, you WILL see yourself emptied out. BUT, the minute you let up, the enemy will attack you even harder – and if you don’t maintain your fasting and praying, you will find yourself worse off than before (Jude 3).

2. Processed Foods: Processed Word (commentaries, televangelists, etc.)

We are absolutely addicted to our conveniences. But have you ever sat down and read the ingredients on some of the foods you consume? You can’t even pronounce half of them, let alone reproduce them! The best foods for your body come straight from nature, consumed exactly the way nature produces them (i.e. foods like kale and sweet potatoes, NOT greens and candied yams).

God’s Word is the most nutritious when it comes directly from His book. Home cooked meals, at your local church, are prepared by God’s master chef, your pastor. He is professionally trained and qualified to prepare your meals. No other will have the same effect on you, because their dish was not tailored to meet YOUR specific needs. Commentaries, televangelists and Facebook preachers should not be your primary meals. They are a “sometimes” snack, and sometimes even that is too much.

3. Muscle Memory: Spiritual Muscle Memory

One of the amazing things about our bodies is its ability to recover. If you have decided to make a healthy lifestyle change (i.e. more exercise), and fall off the wagon, don’t stay there! The minute you pick it back up, it’s only a matter of time before your body responds and remembers what it is supposed to be doing.

If you find that you have slipped out of the will of God, DO NOT wallow there. Get up and get back in the game immediately. You might be rusty, but you won’t have to start completely from scratch because the foundation is already in place.

4. What You Eat in Private, You Wear in Public: Walking the Walk, Not Just Talking the Talk

No one might have seen me sneak a bite of Sister Miller’s anointed cheesecake, go back for seconds of Mother Brown’s pound cake, chow down Deacon  Rowe’s barbecue, help myself to Grandpa Guilford’s potato salad, or enjoy a bowl of the Mabry family’s gumbo… but we can ALL see the results of those sneaked snacks!

You can speak in tongues all day long, but if you have not been living a clean and holy life, we will be able to tell. Nobody may have seen you telling off the bank teller, cutting your fast short or fudging the numbers on your timesheet, but time will tell – and usually at the least convenient moment! More importantly, the eyes of the Lord are everywhere (Rom. 6:1-2).

5. A WORKout, not an EASYout: Not Just When You Feel Like It

Some mornings, I wake up feeling like I am on top of the world and I can run for miles. Other days, it takes serious effort just to put my socks on. Some days, I feel like I can cook for armies at a five-star restaurant. And some days, it takes all of my strength to put that pack of Ramen noodles back in the pantry.

Some days, you will wake up feeling ready to save the whole world. You’ll be ready to grease down the whole office with blessed oil, pronounce blessings over the waitress who gave you an extra soy sauce and more. But some days, you wake up feeling like the “old” you. On those days, press HARDER (Phil. 3:14; 4:6, 7).

6. Put Good Things Where You Can Reach Them: Help Yourself Stay Strong!

In order to increase my chances of working out on a regular basis, I need to have my gear laid out in advance, and have it right near my bed so it’s the first thing I see in the morning.

Likewise, put the things of God where you can get to them easily. We have no excuse not to read the Bible. But if you need to, put scriptures where you can see them – like above your bed post, on a sticky note at your desk, in your wallet, etc. Also, listen to spiritually uplifting songs whenever you can (Col. 3:16).

7. Don’t Reward Yourself with Bad Food: Don’t Reward Spiritual Gain with Sinful Behavior!

Another bad habit is rewarding ourselves with bad food. Why negate all of your hard work by eating something bad for you? This is like a recovering alcoholic rewarding himself for completing a stage in AA with a beer.

If you have just reached a new height in Christ, don’t “reward” yourself by going back to an old behavior. “Well, I used to watch raunchy movies before, but I should be able to handle watching one now that I’m stronger in Christ!” That is absolutely crazy (Prov. 26:11, Gal 5:1).

Above all, we must remember that both our bodies and spirits are on loan to us from the Lord. In what condition will we return it to its owner (I Cor. 6:19-20)? Being physically and spiritually fit is much more than looking and feeling good – it’s about stewardship and taking good care of what ultimately does not belong to you. Will the journey to spiritual and physical fitness be easy? No, it will not. Will it be worth? Absolutely. Eat clean, train dirty!